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Red Tent Movement The Red Tent Movement originated from the New York Times bestselling novel The Rent Tent(1997) written by Anita Diamant. The novel is a fictional retelling of the biblical story Dinah and her rape but Diamant gives this story a feminist view point. In particular the idea of the menstrual hut which the women come to for community. These huts in particular gave Alisa Starkweather the idea to create her own menstrual huts from the novel. Since 2006 these tents, or huts have become spaces in which women may gather to form a community. They discuss, teach and learn from one another. There are now many tents across the world in which women gather monthly to communicate with one another creating a movement in which building female relationships are considered an important part of life and understanding one another openly and empower women of all ages. There is also a variety of media such as books and film produced about the movement by the founders of the Red Tent Movement in attempts to get more women involved.

History
The novel "The Red Tent" is a fictional retelling of the biblical story of Dinah from The Book of Genesis In the original story Dinah the daughter of Jacob and Leah is taking and raped by Shechem (the son of Hamor). Shechem then wants Dinah to become his wife. And although Jacob is in negotiations. Dinah's brothers take it upon themselves to take action and ask for deceitful demands including the circumcision of all the men within Shechem's family. In doing so the brothers end up killing all the men within the family and within the town. Creating mass violence against the women as well and pillaging the city. The story then becomes about the brothers shame and we no longer hear about Dinah and her tragedy of being taken and raped. Diamant wanted to retell the story from Dianh's perspective and what would happen if she had support and encouragement from other women instead of being shamed and silenced for being a vicicim. Diamant included in her story the idea of menstrual huts where women go during their menstrual cycle to be amongst other women a safe place for them to be. The idea of women coming together during their cycles to give one another support and to be in a safe environment during that time gave Alisa Starweather the idea to being her own version of the menstrual tent naming it after the novel The Red Tent Movement. Starweather's idea was to have woman gather from all stages of womanhood and embrace being a woman. DeAnna L'am is another contributor to the movement opening up the first public Red Tent having women from all over come and experience a Red Tent meeting instead of simply hosting at home. These two women together founded the movement now their are over thousands of locations.

Spirituality
Although the movement began with a story from The Book Of Genesis The Red Tent Movement has moved away from the more religious background. The tents originally was a gathering form women going through pregnancy, or menstration a separate safe space for women to be. Although this is still part of the movement it has developed into one more defining of spirituality. Helping women reshape and re define their relationship with themselves and other women in the process. Some of these sacred spiritual practices are events such as first blood, croning, and queening ceremonies. Each one having a significant meaning or milestone in a woman's life. There are not always these spiritual practices many women still gather in the tents to discuss their trials and tribulations along with offerings of comfort and support for one another or to simply learn.

Benefits of The Red Tent Movement
The Red Tent Movement has many benefits for not only women but their communities as well. One way in which the movement is benefiting women is giving them the tools and the confidence they need to feel a sense of empowerment. empowerment specifically within the women's movements is about the action in elevating women in all aspects of their life while letting them make life altering choices in many different issues and giving them the tool and knowledge to do so. <="Gender Equality and Women's empowerment" Another large issue women deal with is their mental health. Women are sometimes known to be the stable ones within their family but they too need help mentally not just physically. Over twenty-five percent of women will encounter some sort ofmental healthissues over their lifetime. Women tend to experience a variety of events in which men do not such as child birth, menstruation and an in balance of hormones. One way in combatting women who are experiencing mental illness is again to have support from friends, loved ones and being able to discuss the issues one is facing. The movement also offers spirituality counselling and meditation in ways of women who may be coping with mental illness or a tragedy.

Social Movement
The idea of a social movement is one where actions are taken in order to aid or gain awareness for a specific cause or issue. With more modern movements we see the use of technology playing a role. And although this is true for The Red Tent Movement some may say it is more of a gathering or meeting of women then one of a movement. Movements would focus specifically on one issue rather then attempting to create a community and help women. Movement would be making social changes and creating actions to achieve their goals.